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The Wanderer
The Wanderer is the formerly unknown barbarian adventurer who rescued Princess Priscilla from the wizard Harlin the Malevolent. Though little is known about him, it seems that the Wanderer is of noble birth -- as his kiss was able to transform Princess Priscilla back into a human after being enchanted into the form of a frog. History The Wizard and the Princess (box) Hisory first records the Wanderer as being noteably happy. It is noted that he carried only a flask of water, a small knife, a loaf of bread, and a blanket. Some insist he also carried a computer or an Eye Between the Worlds"...the evil wizard is heartless but has kept his spells in the computer thus far."-From the original Wizard and the Princess for Apple II and Adventure in Serenia manual, "I can only offer you a computer and a few words of encouragement."-From C64 version, and later rereleases of the manual, "Your computer is a steadfast companion..."-From the C64 version manual. The Wanderer received his equipment from a vision of Priscilla, who could do little else for him except offer words of encouragement. The Wanderer reached the Village of Serenia at roughly the same time a proclamation from King George IV was being read by a town crier. The proclamation explained the kidnapping of Priscilla and promised half of the kingdom to whomever rescued her. An adventurer at heart, and with so great a reward at stake, the Wanderer embarked at once. The Wizard and the Princess (game) Harlin's magic twisted the very land itself to block his path -- and set creatures in front of him that were meant to prevent his success, the Wanderer overcame each obstacle in turn. Along the way, he learned magical words which helped when no item he could discover would. He survived crossing the Endless Desert of Serenia, freeing the King of the Snakes on his way. He crossed a deep chasm and was soon set upon by a gnomish thief, who stole his possessions. After retrieving his belongings, he helped a parrot, receiving a magical vial of liquid and escaped a lion. Finally, he reached the Northern Sea. He improvised some repairs to a boat, and soon found himself on a Jungle Island. The island, he discovered, was the location of buried treasure. The Wanderer found the treasure -- only to have it stolen by a pirate. When the Wanderer recovered the treasure, he also discovered magic which allowed him to fly across the Northern Sea to Harlin's Island, the large land mass where Harlin's Castle held the damsel in distress. More obstacles awaited the Wanderer here -- most notably an Angry Giant -- but he bypassed them and reached the castle. Harlin took greater command of his defense -- magically transporting the Wanderer around his castle in an effort to capture or kill him. First the Wanderer appeared in Harlin's Courtyard, whee he defeated a terrible boar. Next, he appeared in a locked room on the edge of a maze -- the Wanderer picked the lock with his knife and escaped the maze. Finally, the Wanderer reached Harlin at the top of the castle's highest tower. Harlin transformed himself into a bird, hoping to fly to his escape, but the Wanderer used a magic ring to transform into a cat and ate the bird. Further investigation of the castle revealed that Priscilla had been enchanted into the form of a frog -- the Wanderer kissed her and removed the spell. He then used a pair of magic shoes to transport himself and the princess back to the Village of Serenia. n Encyclopedia of Daventry (King's Quest Companion As promised, King George IV offered half of his kingdom to the Wanderer -- as well as his daughter's hand in mariage -- but the hero refused. Instead, he strode back out into the Endless Desert. Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder Nothing would be seen or heard of the Wanderer for many years, until Graham stumbled upon a sun-bleached skeleton in the sands of the Endless Desert. Though the only belonging on the corpse was an old boot, which Graham took. Many believe this body was that of the Wanderer. Wizard and the Princess (manual) Unbeknownst to all, Harlin's power was not defeated and lingered through the ages. Eventually, Harlin had recovered enough to undo his defeat. Using the magic of time travel, he summoned an adventurer from another time to replace the Wanderer -- one who was primarily physically strong and did not seem to be particularly intelligent. Priscilla appeared to this new adventurer, giving him advice and a computer with which to complete the quest. Harlin did not expect, however, that this adventurer would do exactly what the Wanderer had done in the initial quest. Just as before, the Wanderer reached the castle and devoured Harlin -- who would bide his time until summoning this same adventurer back in time to defeat him again. The magic of time travel created a paradox that Harlin, Priscilla, and the Wanderer would repeat forever. Just as before, the Wanderer too refused any reward for his daring quest and walked into the Endless Desert. Non-Canon Cray's KQ Companion The title of the Wanderer is passed on from one Wanderer to the next after much training as an adventurer, as Harlin only held Princess Priscilla as a captive once. The Wanderer who actually goes through the adventurer is Kenneth the Huge. Real World The Wanderer is the player character in the games The Wizard & The Princess and it's re-release Adventure in Serenia. His body may appear in King's Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder, and his character is expanded upon in the King's Quest Companion by Peter Spear. From the King's Quest Omnipedia: : The wanderer was the title of the main character in The Wizard and the Princess and the Adventure in Serenia. There are two prologues, one that appears in manual of later editions of Wizard and the Princess (beginning with the C64 version of Wizard and the Princess), and another that appears on the back of the box of most editions of Wizard and the Princess. These prologues are linked together and apply to the same game, and the same character 'you'.From the back of the box (most editions); You are a happy wanderer passing through a village in the land of Serenia when you notice a large crowd. Being a curious wanderer, you saunter over to see what is going on. From the middle of the chaos you hear a bell ringing. As you get closer, you see the town cryer with a proclamation from the King of Serenia. "Hear Ye!" "Hear Ye!", he cries. "His Magesty King George, has just suffered a terrible loss. His fair daughter, Princess Priscilla, has been abducted by the great and dreadful wizard, Harlin, to his castle beyond the Great Mountains. The crowd is now hushed, waiting ot hear more. The town cryer then shouts, "His Magesty offers half his kingdom to anybody who can bring the princess back safely." That is all he has to say, but it leaves you shaking. Not only are you a happy wanderer, but you have an adventure as well and half a kingdom is a great reward. You decide to find her. But where are the great mountains? As you look around you see no mountains. Just a vast desert that seems never to end. You ask a villager where the great mountains are located, and he points to the north and tells you, "there are a great many dangers on the way to the great mountains, and the Wizard Harlin is very powerful and bad." You thank the villager for his information and start off to the north. As you enter the desert, you check your belongings. You are carrying a flask of water, a small knife, a loaf of bread and a blanket. Not much for such a long journey, but it would have to do, for you have no money. And so, you are on your way........ In both 'you' are described as "a happy wanderer' or 'the wanderer'. He is defined to be a 'barbarian' in The King's Quest Companion. :Some have misinterpreted from the manual in later rereleases for Wizard and the Princess including the C64 version (and some of the collection releases of The Wizard and the Princess), that there are two separate individuals that go by the title of the wanderer, but this is a misleading interpration. In the prologue, Harlin refers to previous wanderer in the past tense (mentioning that he existed in "a time beyond history"), and uses terms that treat him as a separate individual from character he is speaking too ("you"). It is implied that he is challenging the new hero, to a new adventure ("you") from the present who is sent back in time to repeat the actions of 'the wanderer'. He always refers to the previous wanderer who challenged and defeated him as "he", or the "one", and the new hero he is challenging as "you" rather than saying that "you" have challenged him before, and he doesn't realize he is talking to the one who was destined to become the wanderer. :An additional detail that should be noted is that in the previous prologue printed on the back of the box in most editions of the game (including the c64 version), the character ("you" ) was known as "a happy wanderer" even before 'you' chose to go on the adventure, thus he didn't necessarily have to "become the wanderer", like a second adventurer would have, but rather "you" had already become a 'wanderer' shortly before the events of the manual which actually supports the time travel story in the second manual. Priscilla, confirms this by stating that the individual, "you" are the one who became "the wanderer", and would save her (thus confirming they are one and the same). : The King's Quest Companion, 2nd Edition, details the journey and death of the wanderer. According to his backstory, he was a barbarian with great brawn but little brains, who would later die after turning down the Princess' reward. He became the skeleton that Graham found in the desert. It confirms that Priscilla's would later marry Kenneth the Huge. Some may interpet that Kenneth is the second wanderer, although marriage was not one of the rewards directly offered for rescuing the princess in Adventure in Serenia, and their is little evidence that Kenneth the Huge ever went on any journey. : However, as is learned from Harlin, he was only defeated the one time, and thus sends back an indiviual of his choosing back to the period before his defeat. This use of time travel would either result in change of history or seperate alternate realites. If seperate realities, there would be one in which the barbarian turned down the princess, and died in the desert, and one in which a completely different hero saved the princess, and which the barbarian never had the chance to meet her. This of course would cause contradictions between the material. : The only situation that allows all sources to fit, is that the wandering barbarian (King's Quest Companion) was actually sent from the future to the village (Second prologue). He was born and raised a barbarian in the future sent to the past (was given some advice from Priscilla vision), then entered the village met the town crier and went on the journey (as stated in original prologue). He was ultimately fated to die in the past after turnign the princess down. Since the king's quest companion states the barbarian's story as the only reality, and because Priscilla states that the hero was the one who became the 'the wanderer', it confirms that the latter is the true situation. : One additional detail which may effect the interpretation of events is the possibility that only Harlin had reversed himself back into time (to the period beyond history), where he discovered the hero whom he challenged to defeat him, before himself fading back into time. In this situation, the barbarian would have been challenged in his own present time (the past) sometime before KQ1 by a Harlin from the future. Of course the exact situation is unclear (and the former seems more likely, as he refers tells the 'friend' he is talking to that the events occured in a time beyond history), suggesting that it was the past for adventurer as well. : In early drafts of Guidebook to the Land of the Green Isles the author of the guidebook was to be named, "John the Wanderer", instead of Derek Karlavaegen. If there originally was an intended connection to the hero that saved Priscilla, it is unknown. If so, it might mean that the first Wanderer's name was John. In the published Guidebook, Derek describes himself as "...not a hero, I am a wanderer...". In KQ6 Amiga, Hassan mentions how he remembers a 'wanderer' (Derek) coming to the islands when he was just a boy, perhaps the only direct reference to Derek Karlavaegen made in the games.Ferryman (KQ6 Amiga):"The island's currents keep us pretty isolated. I can only recall three visitors in my lifetime. When I was a boy a wanderer came, Alhazred himself arrived many years ago, and now you. We have almost no contact with the outside world, but we're content with our little kingdom. At least, we always were in the past." : Another fan theory is that the Wanderer may be King Edward the Benevolent and Priscilla was his first wife that later died when the famine struck Daventry, and after he gave away the Magic Shield in order to try save her. However King's Quest companion says that King Edward's wife was Queen Maylie. It gives Priscilla's husband's name as Kenneth the Huge. :While the prologue story mentions that a 'computer' was given to the Wanderer ("you"). This is not an actual item in the character's inventory in any version of the game. It is instead a reference to the 'computer' used by the player "you" to communicate and control with during adventure. A nod to the player's computer is made in the original manual for the game as well....the evil wizard is heartless but has kept his spells in the computer thus far."-From the Wizard and the Princess manual This story is an example of a classic grandfather paradox with a causal loop (predestination paradox or bootstrap paradox). The events only happened once, but on a linear loop through non-linear passage through time. From Wikipedia; :The bootstrap paradox is a paradox of time travel in which information or objects can exist without having been created. After information or an object is sent back in time, it is recovered in the present and becomes the very object/information that was initially brought back in time in the first place. Numerous science fiction stories are based on this paradox, which has also been the subject of serious physics articles. In the case of Wizard story, the 'computer' used by the character and player "you" (happy wanderer/the wanderer) to control the events in all versions of the game, would be the example of the bootstrap object. External Links: King's Quest Omnipedia Wanderer Wanderer Wanderer Wanderer Wanderer Wanderer Wanderer Wanderer Wanderer Wanderer Wanderer Category:Needs Images Category:King's Quest PCs